The longest build thread ever, at least it seems like it!

[Kaiserjeeps]

Minor progress. Can't post pictures till I get a new laptop online. I'm working on it. I now have room in the shop for the M715. In preparation for giving my cab to Glenn, I have carefully cut the welds on the door latches and removed them and the welds. I am getting ready to patch the cut out floor pan on the trans hump. Now I can reach the rig with the welder. Once that is done I can take the cab to Glenn or have him come up. 97 degrees out. It's going to snow like heck in 4 months.

[Kaiserjeeps]

Who turned off summer? It was in the high 90's and wham... Low 70's and we had a night of 39 degrees. There is a lot of talk that this will be a bad winter coming up. Conditions exactly like the winter of 96. There was 9 measured feet of snow on the ground. Mkay... I see fearmart is having some sales right now and people are buying. I guess we will see when it happens.
So my wifes brother was here for most of July. I did not get much done and honestly the change of pace was welcome. We were sorry to see him depart for home in Alaska. What a great visit. First in order is to get Glenn his cab and data plates back. I swapped cabs with him but mine needed some repairs before taking it to him. Again, thank you Glenn for reducing my cab work.
Two issues needed fixing. One was later model door latches were welded to the body. Even the screws were welded over. I did some careful grinding and facing and presto, gone...



Both sides cleaned up and painted to protect the metal till Glenn gets to his project.



Next was a hole in the floor at the back of the trans hump. Here it is covered with a rivet attached cover.



Drilled the rivets and punched them to the floor with a drift. So cut with tin snips and edges were as bent as heck. Can't weld a patch to this so there was a lot of edge work first. Then minor clean up for a patch. Oh yes, lots of degreasing underneath first.



Straightening using what ever worked.





I use thick fiber board for patterning. It is great stuff. Like the back of a note tablet but a little thicker.



Continued...

[Kaiserjeeps]

Your patch panel should never touch the edges in any spot. If it does than it will buckle when welding it up. There should be a very slight gap and the panel should fall to the floor if let go. No touching anywhere. I also use magnets for a handle and to hold it in place for bending to shape. I also used a big contour gauge to check the contour with the good cab Glenn set me up with. Glad to have the straight cab so handy.





Then tacking it in. Every weld checked beforehand with a finger drag to make sure the panels were level. I used a piece of welding filler rod hammered flat for the back edge. Not much metal exposed and I did not want to sand it back to clean it up. None of my clamps would fit here. So the rod worked well.



Getting there. The numbers are for my wife to hold a dolly on while I drove a body hammer from underneath. I had some leveling to do along the way. It was difficult since I could not reach both sides for plannishing. My wife is very helpful.



More plannishing. The method is to sand back the weld till it is just above the parent metal. Avoid sanding the surrounding area. Using a body hammer and not anything else and a dolly, you strike an on dolly strike to stress relieve the metal and level it flat at the same time. On dolly strikes can be distinctly heard with a definite "chink" and not a thud with an off dolly strike. On dolly strikes stretch metal as the metal wants to move in all directions away from the point of contact. So minimal strikes and just enough to stress relieve it and get some leveling. Then once level you sand off the remaining weld material level with the parent metal. To many on dolly strikes makes a stretched hump that will only go away with shrinking the whole area. Twice the work. All butt welds should be plannished if possible.



All done and coated to preserve it with satin black. Nothing shows flaws like black paint. It looks pretty good from both sides.

Before paint.






I am headed out to remove the windshield and nit noids followed by removal from the frame. I will get it on a trailer and give Glenn a shout.
I would like to be also moving forward on my soft top project. I still have not received my three seam rippers. I am starting to see big impacts to shipping with the covid garbage. Some stuff does not show up and I can't get a response or a refund from the company. This is an unsustainable situation.
So happy Saturday. More coming up hopefully soon. I hope to land the running gear, motor, trans etc. I lost three weeks but it was a nice break.
It's gonna snow any minute now...LOL

[Barrman]

Great work Al.

Send some of that cold air down here please.

[Kaiserjeeps]

I could box up some cold air and overnight it to you Tim. But it might not get there very quick. I suspect this weather is temporary. Kind of like our typical January thaw. About two weeks of above freezing. Then right back to the 20's or lower. I am glad it cooled off some. I slow down in the heat. Not by choice. I bet Texas is pretty darn warm.

EDIT: I noticed your post count is 7777 !! Thumbs up!

****
Cab is off and will be on a trailer in about an hour. It finally feels like I am getting something done. I had better call Glenn.

[brute4c]

Dang you are good!!

Thanks for not only posting before and after but the steps to get there...that is great learning material for a person like me who used to think it was part magic and part voodoo to do this kind of stuff and do it this good!!

[Kaiserjeeps]

That patch was pretty easy. I am and always will be an amateur. When I watch you tube and see what some guys can do, it humbles me. I got some formal training but am mostly self taught. I just keep at it till something fits. But thank you though.

This part did make me sweat some.



The red cab from Glenn has a small area of repair that I will also detail. I do enjoy metal work. So that helps. My first M715 I regretfully sold helped me buy the older TIG welder I use for this stuff. It will fuse two razor blades together. Providing I have not had to much coffee.
More as soon as I can get to it.

[Kaiserjeeps]

Still trying to get back on the truck work. I was hoping for a painted frame by snow fall. 35 degrees at night and today will be mid 90's. I am still trying to get a clean unbranded title for the truck. I just made my 5th trip to see why it keeps getting held up. The three brands were removed and I got a letter saying a clean replacement was on the way. No title showed up. Found out someone in the main office attached yet another brand out of Oregon. The truck never went through Oregon. So trying once again to get a clean unbranded title. That is what I submitted when I bought the truck. They say it is resolved and one will be on the way in a month or so. I will believe that when it happens. Crazy eh?